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Keith Johnston, the pioneering entrepreneur who introduced the Indian-manufactured G-Wiz electric car to London, has spoken of the evolution of the industry as mainstream carmakers begin to introduce their own electric vehicles.
Johnston, who launched the G-Wiz as the director of GoinGreen, which still markets the vehicle today, has watched the evolution of electric vehicles with both personal and professional interest and now has a new role as head of European business development for Australian electric car systems maker Energetique. “We effectively created a market that did not exist in 2004 when the vehicle was launched,” he said.
“We had to be very creative about the way we marketed the GWiz,” he recalled. “Electric vehicles were really a niche business back in the middle of the last decade, with just a handful of small players.
“In a sense we felt we were taking on the car industry with a new proposition. We didn’t have any showrooms and sold the G-Wiz online where you could spec it, look at it and book a test drive for the vehicle.”
As environmental concerns gained traction, Johnston and his team focused on marketing the G-Wiz directly to consumers with sustainability in mind. “We ignored the car trade press for the first year and a half,” he said.
This was well ahead of the development of the technology within mainstream automotive circles. The G-Wiz was cheap to buy and run and some far-sighted councils in London such as Westminster introduced incentives for its use within the capital such as exemption from the congestion charge and established free charging points and parking. “I don’t know whether we changed an industry, but I certainly think we influenced it,” Johnston said. “I would say we showed the world that electric vehicles were viable.”
While the G-Wiz, with a top speed of 50mph and a range of 40 miles, retails for between £10,000 and £12,000, mainstream EVs are much more expensive. For instance, Nissan’s new Leaf would set customers back £23,990 after taking a government subsidy of up to £5,000 into account.
Johnston now believes, however, that the cost of mainstream electric cars is likely to drop to be comparable with the cost of their internal combustion engine counterparts by the end of the decade. “I completely believe that by the end of this decade EVs will be cheaper than the ICE equivalent. Further, for the next generation, driving a polluting car is going to be seen as really unfashionable and antisocial, like driving a 4X4 was a few years ago.”
Peter Cooke, KPMG professor of automotive industry management at the University of Buckingham, said that once battery technology and prices improved, with, say, leasing arrangements for batteries introduced, it was not unrealistic to expect a balancing out of the cost of electric cars and ICE engine vehicles. “We could see volume production and prices dropping in the next 10-15 years,” he said. “I think they will really take off first in China, because it’s a command economy, and they can say no more ICE vehicles beyond here.
“In 10-15 years EVs will start to become a significant force. But even after that, the true transition to low carbon mobility will take a while.”